I would say my English is pretty good. I hear it every day and try to read books in the language. However, it's been a long time since I last actively used it (you know, writing and speaking). I've been focusing a lot on other languages and English has just kind of taken the back seat. It has been like that for a couple of years, but now I'm a bit scared I'll start forgetting stuff if I don't use it. So today I decided to write something. I've taken a couple of "level tests" and they all place me in the advanced category, but I think I can still benefit from writing stuff here. You can always learn something new :).
I was born and raised in Colombia. Here, we start learning English in elementary school. So officially, we could say I started learning English at 6 years old (17 years ago). But the truth is that I didn't learn that much. Don't get me wrong, I was a pretty good student, but I didn't have a reason to learn English. To me, English was just like math. I memorized a bunch of formulas (like "subject + verb + complement"), applied them in all my exams, and then forgot everything. It was like that for about 9 years. But at 15, my mom told me that I had to learn something new during school vacation. I immediately told her I wanted to learn how to play the piano, but she said that a piano was expensive and that we didn't have room in the house for it (which was true). So I went with my second option: English. At that time, I was getting into mainstream pop music (which was all in English), so inevitably I got interested in the language. So I started learning English for real 8 years ago. I took a course for 3 years and was able to get to a B1 level. After that, I didn't keep actively studying the language, but with lots of YouTube videos, I managed to improve over the years. Right now I feel very comfortable in the language, although I have never used it with native speakers (aside from teachers). When I talk to myself, I do it in English. Sometimes I even dream in the language!
After learning English, I started learning French. That's when I realized I loved languages and wanted to pursue a career involving them. Right now, I'm about to get my undergraduate degree in Modern Languages and I'm really happy about it. But since my job will involve English, I figured I could try to improve it. Sometimes I have problems with prepositions (e.g., in, at, on) and overall I think I could improve my vocabulary. I think what I'll do is add all the new words I find in books and movies to Anki and review them. Maybe I could write something and post it here from time to time.
That's my story with the English language, haha. I'm excited to see if I made any mistakes or if there are more natural ways to say some things. Thanks for reading :).
Excellent! You express yourself well, and I didn't notice any real mistakes. I did flag a couple of differences in written and spoken word choice, which may matter in some contexts.
I mean, I've never heard of anyone who learnt a foreign language at school. This is basically true across the world. The teaching methods don't work, but at least a good teacher manages to get you interested to the target language.
When I finished high school, my English was poor at best and my French was gone. I can still say "Je m'appelle", but only because it slightly resembles mi appendo, which literally translate as I hang myself 😅.
@plc Thank you! I was talking out loud and writing what I was saying, so that's why I used certain words. I'll keep this in mind for future writings :).
@Simone- I agree. Schools aren't the best at teaching languages. I remember there were 30 kids in my classroom, and most only knew a few words in English. The teacher had to speak in Spanish all the time to make sure everyone understood, but those with a higher level didn't make any progress.
The only foreign language that we learn at school in Latin America is English, but it would've been interesting (although not effective) to learn French, Italian, or some other language. Lucky for us, we have the internet to learn by ourselves! :D
In Italy, students learn French between the age of 11 and 14. Then they'll move on to high schools. However, Italy has different types of high schools: Liceo scientifico, for science and maths; Liceo classico, for Italian and foreign literature (Spanish, English, French, Latin, Greek and sometimes German);Tecnico-Tecnologico, for IT and what have you; Alberghiero, for becoming a chef or a waiter, and jobs like that. There are other schools, but you get the point. Most girls that go to the Liceo classico manage to learn both French and Spanish, as well as English. So I guess they do something different at this type of school.